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LDR521: Security Culture for Leaders

LDR521Cybersecurity Leadership
  • 5 Days (Instructor-Led)
  • 30 Hours (Self-Paced)
Course created by:
Russell EubanksLance Spitzner
Russell Eubanks & Lance Spitzner
Register NowCourse Preview
LDR521: Security Culture for Leaders
Course created by:
Russell EubanksLance Spitzner
Russell Eubanks & Lance Spitzner
Register NowCourse Preview
  • 30 CPEs

    Apply your credits to renew your certifications

  • In-Person, Virtual or Self-Paced

    Attend a live, instructor-led class at a location near you or remotely, or train on your time over 4 months

  • Advanced Skill Level

    Course material is geared for cyber security professionals with hands-on experience

  • 12 Hands-On Lab(s)

    Apply what you learn with hands-on exercises and labs

Jump to:

Transform your organization’s cybersecurity by institutionalizing a strong security culture where leadership and workforce prioritize security in their everyday actions and initiatives.

Featured Quote

This content is helping bring back concepts that get forgotten when you go from a doer to a senior leadership role. It brought back good concepts and a way to utilize them in the Security Context as well as getting leadership to think differently.
Michael Neuman

Course Overview

The SANS LDR521: Security Culture for Leaders course teaches cybersecurity leaders how to build, measure, and sustain a strong cybersecurity culture across their organization. Through hands-on labs, real-world scenarios, and proven behavioral science frameworks, participants learn how to gain executive buy-in, engage the workforce, and integrate security into everyday business practices. This course is ideal for experienced security professionals looking to drive meaningful cultural change and elevate the impact of their security programs.

What You'll Learn

  • Understand and quantify both organizational and security culture
  • Identify and embed key elements of a strong security culture
  • Build a practical framework to guide your security team
  • Communicate the business value of security to gain executive buy-in
  • Engage and motivate your workforce to adopt secure behaviors
  • Simplify security processes to integrate them into daily work
  • Improve the success of security initiatives with actionable strategies and tools

Business Takeaways

  • Scale security impact beyond your immediate security team
  • Embed security at the start of all business initiatives
  • Gain critical executive leadership support for initiatives
  • Create a workforce that naturally prioritizes security
  • Increase success rates of all security programs
  • Transform security teams into effective security advocates
  • Reduce security team burnout through cultural alignment

Meet Your Authors

Slide 1 of 0

Course Syllabus

Explore the course syllabus below to view the full range of topics covered in LDR521: Security Culture for Leaders.

Section 1Fundamentals of Organizational and Security Culture

Learn the foundations of security culture, how to map your organization's current culture, and build a roadmap to achieve the security culture you want. Apply proven organizational change models to drive cultural transformation.

Topics covered

  • Human aspects of security
  • Organizational and security culture assessment
  • Future state definition and visioning
  • Organizational change frameworks
  • Enabling cultural change

Labs

  • Map your organization's culture
  • Survey your security culture
  • Define desired security culture
  • Action your security culture plan

Section 2Motivating Security Culture

Discover how to effectively engage and motivate your workforce to prioritize cybersecurity. Learn marketing models, persona development, and incentive programs that drive behavioral change across the organization.

Topics covered

  • AI in security culture building
  • Safety and motivation principles
  • Marketing change effectively
  • Creating security personas
  • Incentivizing security behaviors

Labs

  • Develop security personas
  • Create marketing plan for DevSecOps

Section 3Enabling and Measuring Security Culture

Learn to overcome the "Curse of Knowledge" by making security simple for all employees. Develop effective training approaches, streamline policies, and implement metrics to track and demonstrate security culture impact.

Topics covered

  • Addressing cognitive biases
  • Building security knowledge
  • Simplifying security processes
  • Measuring cultural change
  • Organizing metrics and driving action

Labs

  • Craft learning objectives
  • Build human sensor network
  • Design security culture surveys

Section 4Engaging Leadership

Develop proficiency in getting executive support by speaking leadership's language. Learn to build compelling business cases, understand financial impacts, and effectively communicate security value to senior leadership.

Topics covered

  • Creating business cases
  • Understanding financial impacts
  • Communicate clearly with your executives
  • Demonstrating security ROI
  • Developing a future-focused security vision

Labs

  • Develop a clear Business Case
  • Create an effective multi-year security budget

Section 5Capstone Workshop

Apply everything you've learned in a simulated environment to build a security culture at a fictional company. Teams compete to make strategic decisions that impact security outcomes, with the winning team earning the coveted LDR521 Challenge Coin.

Topics covered

  • Strategic decision-making
  • Real-world application
  • Team collaboration
  • Security leadership simulation
  • Cybersecurity culture outcomes

Labs

  • Cyber42 Leadership Simulation

Things You Need To Know

Relevant Job Roles

Cybersecurity Auditor

European Cybersecurity Skills Framework

Perform cybersecurity audits on the organisation’s ecosystem. Ensuring compliance with statutory, regulatory, policy information, security requirements, industry standards and best practices.

Explore learning path

Cybersecurity Curriculum Development (OPM 711)

NICE: Oversight and Governance

Responsible for developing, planning, coordinating, and evaluating cybersecurity awareness, training, or education content, methods, and techniques based on instructional needs and requirements.

Explore learning path

Cybersecurity Architect

European Cybersecurity Skills Framework

Plans and designs security-by-design solutions (infrastructures, systems, assets, software, hardware and services) and cybersecurity controls.

Explore learning path

Cyber Risk Officer

Cybersecurity Leadership

Lead, govern, and manage this risk for your organization.

Explore learning path

Cyber Threat Intelligence Specialist

European Cybersecurity Skills Framework

Collect, process, analyse data and information to produce actionable intelligence reports and disseminate them to target stakeholders.

Explore learning path

Secure Project Management (OPM 802)

NICE: Oversight and Governance

Responsible for overseeing and directly managing technology projects. Ensures cybersecurity is built into projects to protect the organization’s critical infrastructure and assets, reduce risk, and meet organizational goals. Tracks and communicates project status and demonstrates project value to the organization.

Explore learning path

Systems Security Management (OPM 722)

NICE: Oversight and Governance

Responsible for managing the cybersecurity of a program, organization, system, or enclave.

Explore learning path

Communications Security (COMSEC) Management (OPM 723)

NICE: Oversight and Governance

Responsible for managing the Communications Security (COMSEC) resources of an organization.

Explore learning path

Senior Security Leader

Cybersecurity Leadership

Daily focus is on the leadership of technical teams. Includes titles such as Technical Director, Manager, and Team Lead.

Explore learning path

Cybersecurity Risk Manager

European Cybersecurity Skills Framework

Manage the organisation's cybersecurity-related risks aligned to the organisation’s strategy. Develop, maintain and communicate the risk management processes and reports.

Explore learning path

Media Exploitation Analyst

Digital Forensics and Incident Response

This expert applies digital forensic skills to a plethora of media that encompasses an investigation. If investigating computer crime excites you, and you want to make a career of recovering file systems that have been hacked, damaged or used in a crime, this may be the path for you. In this position, you will assist in the forensic examinations of computers and media from a variety of sources, in view of developing forensically sound evidence.

Explore learning path

Cybersecurity Educator

European Cybersecurity Skills Framework

Improves cybersecurity knowledge, skills and competencies of humans.

Explore learning path

Program Management (OPM 801)

NICE: Oversight and Governance

Responsible for leading, coordinating, and the overall success of a defined program. Includes communicating about the program and ensuring alignment with agency or organizational  priorities.

Explore learning path

Penetration Tester

European Cybersecurity Skills Framework

Assess the effectiveness of security controls, reveals and utilise cybersecurity vulnerabilities, assessing their criticality if exploited by threat actors.

Explore learning path

Digital Forensics Investigator

European Cybersecurity Skills Framework

Ensure the cybercriminal investigation reveals all digital evidence to prove the malicious activity.

Explore learning path

Cybersecurity Researcher

European Cybersecurity Skills Framework

Research the cybersecurity domain and incorporate results in cybersecurity solutions.

Explore learning path

Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)

European Cybersecurity Skills Framework

Manages an organisation’s cybersecurity strategy and its implementation to ensure that digital systems, services and assets are adequately secure and protected.

Explore learning path

Cybersecurity Workforce Management (OPM 751)

NICE: Oversight and Governance

NICE Framework: Cybersecurity Workforce Management (OPM 751)

Explore learning path

Executive Cybersecurity Leadership (OPM 901)

NICE: Oversight and Governance

Responsible for establishing vision and direction for an organization's cybersecurity operations and resources and their impact on digital and physical spaces. Possesses authority to make and execute decisions that impact an organization broadly, including policy approval and stakeholder engagement.

Explore learning path

Cybersecurity Implementer

European Cybersecurity Skills Framework

Develop, deploy and operate cybersecurity solutions (systems, assets, software, controls and services) on infrastructures and products.

Explore learning path

Course Schedule & Pricing

Looking for Group Purchasing Options?Contact Us

OnDemand Bundle

When purchasing a live, instructor-led course, add 4 months of online access. View price in the info icons below.

SANS Skills Quest by NetWars Core Edition

Add 6 months of hands-on skills practice.  Add to your cart when purchasing your course.

Filter by:
  • Location & instructor

    Virtual (OnDemand)

    Instructed by Russell Eubanks
    Date & Time
    OnDemand (Anytime)Self-Paced, 4 months access
    Course price
    $8,260 USD*Prices exclude applicable local taxes
    Enrollment options
    Self-Paced
  • Location & instructor

    Munich, DE

    Instructed by Lance Spitzner
    Date & Time
    Fetching schedule..View event details
    Course price
    €7,715 EUR*Prices exclude applicable local taxes
    Enrollment options
    In-Person
  • Location & instructor

    Washington, DC, US & Virtual (live)

    Instructed by John Scott
    Date & Time
    Fetching schedule..View event details
    Course price
    $8,260 USD*Prices exclude applicable local taxes
    Enrollment options
    Virtual
  • Location & instructor

    Virginia Beach, VA, US & Virtual (live)

    Instructed by Lance Spitzner
    Date & Time
    Fetching schedule..View event details
    Course price
    $8,260 USD*Prices exclude applicable local taxes
    Enrollment options
    Virtual
  • Location & instructor

    Virginia Beach, VA, US & Virtual (live)

    Date & Time
    Fetching schedule..View event details
    Course price
    $8,260 USD
    Enrollment options
  • Location & instructor

    Orlando, FL, US & Virtual (live)

    Instructed by Lance Spitzner
    Date & Time
    Fetching schedule..View event details
    Course price
    $8,260 USD*Prices exclude applicable local taxes
    Enrollment options
    In-PersonVirtual
  • Location & instructor

    Washington, DC, US & Virtual (live)

    Instructed by Lance Spitzner
    Date & Time
    Fetching schedule..View event details
    Course price
    $8,260 USD*Prices exclude applicable local taxes
    Enrollment options
    In-PersonVirtual
  • Location & instructor

    Virtual (live)

    Instructed by John Scott
    Date & Time
    Fetching schedule..View event details
    Course price
    €7,715 EUR*Prices exclude applicable local taxes
    Enrollment options
    Virtual
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Learn Alongside Leading Cybersecurity Professionals From Around The World

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